Spring has sprung......

At Rooksbury Mill Nature Reserve late this afternoon I caught up with a Kingfisher, not ideal as the branches were in the way quite a bit, but at least I now know the patch.

I will take some time off work and sit down in a hide and see if I can get some better shots.

Currently negotiating on a Canon EF600mm lens, so will be able to get even closer.

Fighting Moorhens.....

I never knew that such a small bird had such huge feet\claws and that they fought like demons!?

As usual this looks like 2 males fighting over a female, same old story as most animals of this green and pleasant earth.

Not as sharp as I would like, but still a useful capture of the behaviour.

Con of the Year... again

Once again the High Street has thrown up a complete marketing con for Valentine's Day.

Wine Rack\Threshers\Victoria Wine group have released a voucher offering "40% Off All Champagne and Sparkling wine from 4th-14th February".

Sadly for them, all the comparisons I have done with other wine retaillers works out with them being considerably more expensive from the start - and even with the 40% deducted, only slightly cheaper in some cases. If you are wanting a dozen or more bottles I suggest Virgin Wines in most examples.

Example 1 - Taittinger Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £36.99 less 40% = £22.19
Sainsbury's = £31.99
Virgin Wines = £21.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 2 - Moet et Chandon Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £38.99 less 40% = £23.39
Sainsbury's = £25.84
Tesco = £25.84
Virgin Wines = £21.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 3 - Veuve Clicquot Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £44.99 less 40% = £26.99
Sainsbury's = £29.73
Tesco = £29.73
Virgin Wines = £25.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 4 - Bollinger Special Cuvee NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £47.99 less 40% = £28.79
Tesco = £33.98
Sainsbury's = £33.98
Virgin Wines = £29.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 5 - Lanson Black Label Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £29.99 less 40% = £17.99
Tesco = £25.90
Sainsbury's = £25.90
Virgin Wines = £18.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Everything stops.....

... a little bit of snow, and everything stops.

But in some cases, it also allows for some photography trials.

Bench in garden covered in 4 inches of snow.

A good day....

... arrive at train station, no queue at Coffee shop - order coffee. Go to ticket office - no queue - get ticket. Back to pick up coffee - no queue. Walk to platform - empty & devoid of usual fuckwits who think they own the train everyone else travels on as well. Get seat on train with table - do loads of work on laptop for full journey time! Walk to office at Southbank - easily find hotdesk available [not normal] - sign on, log in and do a load of work. Mid morning coffee with ex-colleague - find out useful information. Back to desk - load more work. Have lunch with colleague, chew the fat, get some useful information, back to desk - load more work. Have tea with new colleague - get useful information, back to desk - load more work. Annual review with manager at 4pm - good result - another year of gainful employment. Walk to station, get train within 5 minutes and home for a Horse Feathers and lovely dinner of lamb casserole with some great red wine. Heaven! If only all days were as easy as this.

There are some advantages....

... to working in central London sometimes.

I took this last week when I was in the central London office, there are some stunning views from a few of the conference rooms - this is one.

Working for a living.....

... sadly involves driving to places and meeting people. It's not I don't like meeting people, it's just a great number of them seem to be on the motorway at the same time getting to the same sort of places.

I drove to IBM Bedfont Lakes four times this week for meetings, the journey of 60 miles takes about 50 minutes on a clear run, unfortunately most of the mornings this week it took close on 90 minutes, the evening runs home took just over 60 minutes. So thats 10 hours spent driving in my car so far this week just getting to and from work.

I won't be driving anywhere tommorrow, but I will be undertaking a similar journey on Saturday when I take my brother to Heathrow on the first leg of his journey to live in Australia full time.

Hoarfrost....

I think most of the southern UK was subjected to a bit of fog and frost last night, resulting in a Hoarfrost, which in some locations looked spectacular.

I drove to Basingstoke first thing to pick up a few bits & pieces and on the way there I saw some fantastic frosty scenes, on the way back I drove back through Longparish and again saw some quite beautiful views.

I stopped off at a spot by the River Test I thought might be looking like a winter wonderland, it was good, but probably because of the proximity to the river, it wasn't as great as I had hoped.

Although it's still lingering on late into the afternoon, looking at the weather forecast, it could all be gone by tommorrow.

New birds in garden.....

The New Year has brought a couple of new birds into the garden, the first to sit still long enough for me to snap it was this Blackcap pictured right.

The other new species seen over the last week or so is the Redwing - same family as, but slightly different to a Song Thrush and a fleeting glimpse of a Bearded Tit

Love it or hate it things......

Whilst in Holland & Barrett yesterday I found some lovely liquorice comfits, there were some samples available which I gladly tucked in to, much to my surprise the shop assistant and my shopping companion both said they couldn't stand the stuff! So I had their share as well.

It got me thinking to things that most people have an immediate love\hate reaction to..... Marmite, liquorice, port wine, red cabbage, liver, garlic, Guinness, aniseed - I like them all.

New Year outlook.......

My brother departed back to Manchester today, but he will return in 2 weeks for another stay of a week here before travelling to Australia for his new life adventure, hopefully he will settle in Sydney. It's a nice place to visit - and he has an apartment in Manly [pictured right], which is a super place to relax and spend time in. It's a 30 minute ferry ride to central Sydney which can be seen in the background of the photo.

Not sure what 2009 will bring overall, I am sure the economic downturn will play it's part and if you listen to the scaremongering, harbingers of doom (the media), then the next 12-18 months are going to be tough.

New Year resolutions include - not listening to the scaremongering, harbingers of doom -particularly Breakfast News programmes. Take more photo's. Blog more. Get on my bike more. De-clutter the house.... I'm sure more will be added.

If I don't post beforehand.... Happy new year reader.

Festive outlook...

My brother arrived on Sunday from Manchester for what will probably be his last Christmas with whats left of the family as he moves out to Australia in January. Various visitations have been made whilst he is here by people that he wouldn't normally see for years at a stretch - cousins, uncles and friends etc., so I think it's been quite a good couple of days for him so far.

All shopping completed, including a mega find - Chambord Liqueur at of all places... Asda! So Champagne (Sainsbury's Vintage Cava) Cocktails made with sugar lump and a dash of Chambord topped with bubbly have been the order of the day for the last few....

My brother and I played the "spot the best looking checkout girl" in Asda & Sainsbury's today - we both swore blind that we had found the bestest looking one!

Glazed Gammon, Mince Pies and now Christmas Cake have all been homemade, ready for consumption over the next week or so. Oh, and work is all done and dusted, with numbers looking suprisingly good given the global credit issues.

Reality check......

Whilst eating breakfast, I have just seen piece on GMTV that has moved me to post this.....

I don't normally fall for the usual GMTV sob story, but this wasn't pitched as a sob story. Melissa Huggins is a 27 year old school teacher from Staines who is suffering from a brain tumor for the 2nd time in 3 years. She was very articulate and put across her plight calmly and concisely, and even made use of the airtime to explain that the UK doesn't have the £100 million equipment that can treat her and a growing number of children with this form of tumor. (yes you read it right! Come on Abramovich, Branson, Mittal, Green, Ecclestone, Rausing, Ratcliffe and Reuben - get your wallets out!)

Having read the more complete story on her website I have decided to contribute what I normally spend on frivolous bits of paper known as Christmas cards to her fighting fund for treatment in the USA. Not a great deal of money in the scheme of things, just £100, but if a couple of dozen of people in a similiar situation to me made the same commitment, it would make a world of difference to a worthwhile cause.

I wish her well.

20/12 UPDATE : I have heard from a source that the fund had tipped over the £100K mark, and that the US hospital had accepted her and given her a place as soon as the money was confirmed. All of which is excellent news and provides a path to the most suitable and effective treatment, on what is the continued long and arduous journey of recovery.

Prikka-Strip

Now installed on my fence, a good number of metre's of Prikka-Strip. A triple row of 15mm high solid polypropylene cones, and as I found out when installing them, they do really hurt when they get you! Luckily, I managed to get the more visually acceptable brown version.

Yet again, in the course of protecting my own property I am obliged by law to put up sign saying "WARNING : these premises are protected by an anti-intruder device. Personal injury may result from unauthorised access" The only exception to this covering of my own backside legally is if a kid decides to try and hop over my fence and injures themselves, I could end up in court for failing to provide a duty of care to the trespasser!? Well it beats shooting them and getting a criminal record! (that was a joke of course!)

Next in line is an upgrade of the security lights all round the property. Although still working well, they are now 10 years old, and probably in need of an replacement by now anyway. I have also ordered a load more Prikka-Strip from Screwfix to get my neighbours fence covered as well.

Unwanted visitors.....

Pictured right is Philip Murray of Wellesley Road, Andover.

This morning at 4am he decided to enter my back garden, luckily the security lights and CCTV worked well, I also heard him and his brother Andrew shouting.

Police were called and as soon as the dog was brought onto site and announced by the handler, the brothers Murray decided to give themselves up. By this time after me initially shouting at them and them running off, they had moved into my next door neighbours garden. It turns out that they were looking for a mobile phone that Philip had lost during his drunken shortcut home over the garage roof of the flats next doors to my neighbour. Clearly a coincidence that during the summer, a couple of youths were seen on the same garage roof, they then jumped onto a parked car below causing damage and hefty repair costs for the owner. I wonder if the Police will link the incidents?

On this occassion there was no damage, so Police let them off with a search and a word. I have subsequently recovered the phone and have found out that I am legally obliged to get it back to them. I have invited them round to apologise and get phone back on Sunday morning. Will wait and see if they have the balls to do so.

UPDATE : The brothers Murray did come round as agreed at 11am Sunday morning, and have apologised to me and my neighbours.

Wine Bargain III (emphatically!)

I have been searching around for a good quality Champagne style wine for cocktails at Christmas, a few years ago I found Heidsieck & Co. Monopole Blue Top on offer at Tesco's for a bargain of £11.00 a bottle, but this year, Sainsbury's has turned up trumps...... This one is a real bargain, on 50% discount at the moment at £4.99 - Sainbury's Vintage Cava 2006. Perfect for Champagne cocktails - add Angostura Bitters, sugar lump and optional dash of Cognac or Orange Bitters\Cointreau\Peach Schnapps, for an excellent festive celebration drink.

Wine bargain II (nearly)

Another trip to the Berry Brothers & Rudd outlet store at Basingstoke threw up some interesting wines.

Firstly a white Rioja, something I had never seen before. So after a quick discussion about grape variety, quality and tasting notes, a couple of bin ends of Allende Blanco were put into my basket. For some reason when I saw it's rich golden colour I assumed it was a dessert wine, but no, it's a clean crisp dry white wine made from the Viura grape which went very well with the chicken stir fry and then the fish pie I had it with the next day.

Then a case of my current favourite red [pictured right], La Montesa Crianza, Bodegas Palacios Remondo. A wonderful, rich and smooth Rioja.

And lastly a couple of Magnum's - one a bin end of lesser known Claret for £22 which went particularly well with a fore-rib of beef from Robinsons at Stockbridge, the other was a freebie Berrys' own Good Ordinary Claret, which went well with a Chilli Con Carne I made for after the Fireworks at Hursley Park - which were fantastic as usual.

Latest wine bargain....

An introduction to this by my neighbour as an aperitif was a pleasant suprise, even better when later we found it on offer at Sainsbury's.... at £4.50 a bottle - half price from it's normal £8.99 price tag.

Jacob's Creek Sparkling Rose is an Australian bottle fermented wine made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. Strangley not dry, nor overly sweet, it has hints of fresh strawberries and is very drinkable. As with all mass produced Australian\Californian wine it is 100% consistent. I have yet to try the white version, but in reality, much like Perou - one has standards, so I'll stick to Taittinger.

Do you know what yours is and do you....

.... know what it is supposed to be?

Having gone through the last couple of weeks, looking at my general well-being and monitoring symptoms such as cholestorel, I have had to pay particular attention to my blood pressure.

I had already invested in a blood pressure monitor, but hadn't paid much attention to using it with any great regularity, or worse understanding exactly what the numbers meant.

So post stent procedure and the new regime of drug therapy I have paid much closer attention and it's with great pleasure I can report that acceptable and normal levels of blood pressure have been achieved.

A very useful chart and explanation of the mysterious numbers can be found here.

I have been a bit quiet of late.....

.... because I am now the permanent owner of one of these.... a coronary stent.

At the age of 41, I have been fitted with a device that opened a blocked artery in my heart. Not entirely unexpected as my father had a quadruple heart by-pass at the age of 45. But nonetheless a sobering and frankly shocking turn of events in a very short period of time.

Hats off to GP, insurance company, specialists and North Hampshire Hospital at Basingstoke, I went from GP visit on 19th September to stent fitting on 6th October, with various appointments and milestones inbetween.

I am now recovering at home by watching Harry Potter and too many episodes of QI to mention. But in the future a return to the gym and regular walks are on the cards, plus cutting out any crap food that I did occassionally partake of.